Interaction and Improvisation
On 4th and 5th October, Culture Lab hosted 'Performance Technologies: Interaction & Improvisation', a workshop involving several Culture Lab residents and a group of performing artists from Brunel University.
The workshop, led by Sally Jane Norman (Culture Lab), Bennett Hogg (Newcastle) and Gretchen Schiller (Brunel) was designed to explore methods and models of improvisation across disciplines and how these might work together to create interesting tensions between performing artists. The performers from Brunel, who are all currently undertaking an MA course in Digital Performance, had a wide range of styles ranging from ballet to breakdancing.
Newcastle University music students and Culture Lab residents Paul Bell, John Ferguson, Adam Parkinson, Will Schrimshaw and Nick Williams combined a range of musical improvisation techniques with the physical improvisation of the dancers. These exchanges were captured using Culture Lab's motion capture system and the physical trajectories of both musicians and movers was reintroduced into the arena as an aspect of the performance.
The event was an excellent opportunity to cross disciplinary and institutional barriers and the ongoing debates and discussions which arose from the event have been solidified into a number of emerging proposals for collaborative projects.
Images courtesy of Will Schrimshaw.More images.
